this show tomorrow night! we just got confirmation late this afternoon. i'm so psyched i'm going to die. that does it for us tonight. i'm so psyched, i'm going to die. "first look" is up next. day of reckoning -- news corp chief rupert murdoch prepares to be grilled over his company's involvement. swept away -- tragedy strikes a family of five at a popular picnic spot in india. and howling haboob, a giant wall of dust roars through phoenix for the second time in two weeks. good morning, i'm lynn berry, those stories and more are straight ahead on "first look." this is msnbc. and we begin this morning with london calling.

news corp chief, ruprd murdoch, his son and former chief executive, rebekah brooks, will face some tough questioning, appearing before lawmakers this morning, this as the developments in the growing phone hacking scandal seem to be changing by the hour. nbc's jim maceda is live for us in london outside parliment with details. jim, good morning. >> good morning, lynn. well all eyes will definitely be on a small room inside that building behind me, the mother of parliament it's called here. just big enough for 40 or so spectators, but there will be overflow rooms with television sets. this is really must-see tv today in great britain and for many other places. certainly the united states, which is why there's so much media here today as well. as one british politician put it, it's the three musketeers of the murdoch media empire and the phone-hacking scandal that will appear here later today. they'll be grilled by ten

members of a select committee. it doesn't sound like much, it's the committee for culture and media. these hearings will only last an hour for rupert and his 38-year-old son, james murdoch. and another hour following that for rebekah brooks, who was as we know now, the chief executive of murdoch's british newspapers before she suddenly resigned last week. members of parliament in terms of what we're going to hear today, they'll try to get the murdochs and brooks to commit themselves on the record. saying things that they might be able to use against them later. especially if what they say turns out to be misleading. they're not going to be on oath, but they are going to be on what they call here, on honor and that's just as significant. the murdochs, and brooks on the other hand, will try to be as they have for a week now, very contri contrite. it's all about apologize, apologize that seems to be the

new strategy. we'll also hear questions specifically to james murdoch, who has already admitted giving phone hacking victims back in 2008, huge payouts, some over $1 million, to effectively buy their silence. and of course, there's pressure mounting on david cameron, he's headed back here tomorrow, cutting a trip to africa short. to face questioning by his own mps, at the same building behind me. so a lot going on as this extraordinary story rolls on, lynn. back to you. >> absolutely, jim it seems to grow by the day. we also heard at least one report yesterday that there was a possibility that rupert murdoch may step down. does it depend on how he does today? what are you hearing there? >> i think it will have a lot to do with damage control. rupert murdoch, who is not good at all at these types of situations, he's a very shy man, believe it or not. he's not very articulate and he hates these kinds of

confrontation, his son, james, will do lot better. but yes, it's all about turning this extraordinary reversal. reversing the tide, which has been going completely south on the murdoch empire and the murdoch holdings here in great britain. in terms of him stepping down. there have been some rumblings about that among some of his stockholders in some of his companies. but the experts here are saying that's unlikely at least for now. it depends on what comes out of this meeting. it depends on a number of things, especially a couple of inquiries going on. a criminal investigation and a judicial inquiry being run here and what new information comes out. as far as we know, so far, all of this hacking took place five years ago. if there are more current examples of this hacking, that could really doom the murdoch empire. back to you. >> jim maceda, thank you very much. msnbc will be covering the

murdochs testifying. back at home on capitol hill, the back-and-forth battle over the nation's budget crisis will reach the house floor today when republicans vote on a plan calling for steep spending cuts in return for raising the debt ceiling. democrats say the measure will never pass the senate and president obama has vowed to veto the bill. still, the president is saying he's seeing progress. nbc's tracey potts joins us from washington with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, the president says we're seeing progress, what's unclear is how quickly the progress might lead to a deal. if that could happen before this deadline, two weeks from today. president obama likely to sit down again with democrats and republicans before the end of this week. to try to hammer something out. both sides set to talk later this morning. and also, on the house floor today, a vote on the cut, cap and balance bill cutting the budget, capping the federal spending and calling for a balanced budget amendment.

democrats say it is too harsh on medicare and social security. but there's another plan out there by a republican, that's even tougher, $9 trillion in cuts, $1 trillion in tax increases, by republican tom coburn of oklahoma. tax increases, against the will of his own party. his plan would require veterans to pay more for their medical care. none of this yet wrapped up. lynn? >> thanks so much. now here's your "first look" at other news going on around america today. vapors from an ammonia leak in nebraska sent fire crews scrambling yesterday. hazmat and emergency response teams suited up to neutralize the hazardous chemical and keep it from harming locals. authorities believe the leak stemmed from a faulty release valve on a storage tank. in oregon, veterinarians life-saving heroics were caught on camera when a bald eagle under anesthesia stopped

breathing. the vet treating the bird, leapt into action giving the bird mouth-to-beak resuscitation. this is bizarre, a horse in colorado gave its owners a rude awakening when she fell through a well window right into their basement. it took hours for rescue crews to figure out an exit plan for the horse. they finally dug a hole to pull the sedated horse from the basement safely. and in arizona, it looked like a scene from a movie, but this was no movie magic, it's a haboob. >> a what? >> a haboob. a massive storm swept the phoenix area, the 3,000-foot high wall of dust created dangerous driving conditions. and now for a look at your national weather, we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins with your weather channel forecast.

who first inlightened us with haboob. now we learn more. >> i'm over it. i'm not going to say that word. >> really? are you going to start a new word? >> i didn't make that one up. that was a real word. don't try to trick me into saying it. let's talk heat wave, how many times have i said heat wave and hot. it's a little ridiculous. let's talk about where it was the worse yesterday. through texas and oklahoma. what was really bad was up in minnesota, minneapolis was 98, not only that, it was really humid. like off the charts humidity. so the air was just really thick. and at one point yesterday it felt like nearly 120 when you walked outside. areas of iowa, one location was up there, it almost felt like 130 yesterday. which was just off the charts hot. so that heat wave is still centered right now over the top of missouri. it will be drifting to the east coast through the next couple of days. the hottest day in the east coast will be on friday by far. then over the weekend it will still be hot, but not quite as

bad. right now, even outside at this hour. it feels like 84 in washington, d.c., because the heat index, the humidity is still up. 92 in minneapolis, when you start off the morning with a heat index like that. you're probably going to end up at 110, to 120 this afternoon. all the warnings are out here where the humidities are the highest. the humidities on the east coast aren't that high right now, but will skyrocket thursday and friday. so far today, it's not cold, i mean it's still hot. d.c. at 95, minneapolis at 98, with that humidity, that's where it's dangerous out there. and lynn, your little weather geek fact of the day, number one killer of lives in the weather world, heat exhaustion. more than tornadoes, hurricanes and floods, so take it serious. >> not a fact that we want to hear, but a fact nevertheless. gold shines, stocks stumble and how to get a $300,000 for

$16. true story. your "first look" at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, a bizarre goal, women's soccer sets is a new record and if you can't stand the heat get off the field. i have astigmatism. my old contacts would sometimes move and blur my vision. then my eye doctor told me about acuvue® oasys for astigmatism. he said it's the only lens of its kind designed to realign naturally with every blink so now, i'm seeing more clearly. [ male announcer ] learn more at acuvue.com.

here's some of the top stories making news this morning. u.s. astronauts have bid a final farewell to colleague ace board the international space station. "atlantis" separated from the station this morning, and is scheduled to return to earth on thursday, marking the end of nasa's shuttle program. a rare meeting was held between u.s. officials and representatives of libyan leader, moammar gadhafi, at an undisclosed location this past weekend. according to the state department, diplomats delivered a simple message, that gadhafi must step down. beginning next month, philadelphia will begin handing out $120 tickets to pedestrians

who walk and text without watching where they're going. part of a program that targets bad behavior by people on cars, on bikes and on foot. and these are some disturbing pictures here, as a family picnic turned into a tragedy for this family of five in india. when a flash flood swept them over a waterfall. difficult video to watch, amateur video showing the family members clinging to a rock before becoming overcome by the torrent. three were found dead and two remain missing. and beachgoers in northeastern china were greeted by a sea of green as a blanket of algae washed up along the coastline. well the algae is harmless to swimmers, it is known to consume large quantity of oxygen and choke marine life. now here's your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,385 after

falling 94 points yesterday, the s&p dipped ten points, the nasdaq sank 24. overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei stumbled to an 84-point loss. but in hong kong, the hang seng added 97. well with five days to go before the debt ceiling deadline and no agreement in sight, stocks fell monday and wall street's so-called fear index spiked almost 8%. gold rose for a tenth straight day, hitting another record at over $1600 an ounce for the first time. casting fear over financials, wall street's assessment of bank stress tests in europe which were found to be rose-colored and unrealistic. bank of america hit a new 52-week low, down almost 3%. citigroup lost almost 2%. allstate dropped 5%, after the president of its struggling home and auto unit announced an

immediate departure with no explanation. as troubles deepened for rupert murdoch's news corp., shares fell more than 4 hrs, down now 15% for the month. netflix, which recently jacked up rates fell on an analyst downgrade over expectations that are too high. in earnings, halliburton edged up penny as share after reporting a 54% jump in profit. sales of transformers action figures lifted hasbro's earnings, but not enough to beat estimates, the stock sank almost 5%. after the bell, ibm posted an 8% jump in year-to-year quarterly profit. cisco is laying off 6,500 workers. and a texas man is now in possession of a $300,000 house after paying just a $16 fee.

that's right. the owner walked away from the foreclosed home. the bank holding the mortgage went bust and in three years the man can petition the court for outright ownership. well the yankees come back, the red sox rally late and america's world cup women set a record off the field. plus, speaking of soccer, we're going to show you the rarest of goal-scoring styles. don't see that every day. your first look at sports is straight ahead, you're watching "first look."

♪ going to the bank without going to the bank... that's a step forward. with chase quickdeposit on your smartphone, you just snap a picture, hit send and done. chase quickdeposit. take a step forward and chase what matters. ♪ we just keep on keepin' on ♪ ♪ keep on

welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. and in sports last night, divisional rivals new york and tampa bay had at it in a back-and-forth battle. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning, a night after playing a 16-inning marathon with the red sox, the rays went down to the wire against the yankees. rays jumped out to an early lead, longoria doubled in a pair. tampa led after one. they couldn't hold on. with the sacks full in the ninth. alex torres walked in the go-ahead run. red soxed scored just one run in the six-hour game against tampa. fresh off the dl, carl crawford picked up an rbi and a couple of runs scored. red sox may be running on empty but they had plenty to beat the o's, 15-10. wrigley cub and phillies, ramirez gave chicago an early

lead with a solo shot to left. not only did the cubs get to halladay, but so did the heat, with temperatures in the 90s, halladay couldn't finish the fifth. cubs won it 6-1. ryan zimmerman tied it in the seventh. and gave washington the lead in the ninth with an rbi single. the nats rally to win, 5-2. the u.s. women's soccer team captured the hearts of a nation during their run to the world cup finals. twitter had a record 7200 world cup-related tweets per second during the final against japan. that eclipsed the old mark set during the royal wedding and the death of osama bin laden. the women lost the world cup on penalty kicks, maybe things would have been different if they tried this. a player from the united arab emirates scored by kicking the ball with his heel. he ran up, turned around and beat the goalie with a backwards boot. never seen that of about, and by the looks of it, neither had the goalie. that's your "first look" at sports, i'm fred roggin. now for another quick look at the weather, here once again

is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. >> are you going to talk about one little area of rain. good morning, everyone, if you're leaving pittsburgh and heading south of town that's where we've had some rain and thunderstorms. and back in ohio, we have two clusters of thunderstorms that we're watching. otherwise everyone else is dry. it's a hot day. it won't be quite as humid and northern new england gets a break. from new york city southward, we're still about 90-95. slight chance of a storm in d.c. and if you're in washington, d.c., get ready with everyone else on the east coast. thursday, friday and saturday, three days in a row near 100 degrees. bill, thanks so much. are fathers as brave as mothers in the delivery room? bill's going to weigh in on this one. plus, imagine how you would react if you caught a movie at your local theater and found these two sitting next to you? your "first look" at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. he mail

twice a year, every year you don't have an accident. the safe driving bonus check. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate.

more than you think. that's why there's charmin ultra strong. e is soft and more durable so it holds up better. fewer pieces left behind. charmin ultra strong. ...was it something big? ...or something small? ...something old? ...or something new? ...or maybe, just maybe... it's something you haven't seen yet. the 2nd generation of intel core processors. stunning visuals, intelligent performance. this is visibly smart.

welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. and last night on late night with jimmy fallon, following a long late-night talk show tradition. jimmy had a little fun at the expense of the state of new jersey. >> the new survey found that mtv's "jersey shore" is actually not hurting new jersey's reputation at all. which raises an interesting question, how bad was new jersey's reputation before? where this did not hurt new jersey's reputation? i heard about a woman who is publishing 12 years of her own text messages in a new book. i don't want to ruin the ending but the last line is, hey, just

thought of the dumbest idea for a book. [ applause ] >> i don't want to read that book. listen to this, a woman in colorado was arrested for groping a tsa agent last week. on the bright side, today she was offered a job with the tsa. it turned out good. it turned out pretty good. >> tonight jimmy welcomes actor/singer justin timberlake, actress rose byrne and singer emmy lou harris. 12:35, 11:35 central on your local nbc station. for old pro betty white, business is going to have to come before pleasure. white says she's flattered and appreciates the offer, but she can't go on a date to the marine ball because at the time, she'll be shooting her tv show. come on, betty. come on.

lionsgate confirms it has closed a deal with charlie sheen to start production of "anger management" a tv show. giving birth recently to her son, flynn, miranda kerr wanted a natural childbirth with no drugs. when asked on australian tv if she ever wavered, she said looking over in pain at her husband, orlando bloom, he shouted out, give me the epidural. and finally, newlyweds prince william and the duchess of cambridge apparently meant it when they said they want to live normal lives. people.com reports last weekend they went to a regular public multiplex theater in wales to see "bridesmaids." i would feel so guilty -- getting up to go to the bathroom or get popcorn -- excuse me,

excuse me. >> you're probably trying to guess what they had? >> jujubees. >> stay tuned, "way too early" is coming up next. the news corp. hacking scandal is beginning to look like the summer's biggest blockbuster. you had a bribery scandal and now testimony before parliament, including james and rupert murdoch. they're going to be up there today. the question is bigger will the skantdal get. president obama threadening to veto a bill on the debt ceiling. the question is, two weeks left until this august deadline, who blinks first. and only holy heat wave, batman, killer weather moving to the east coast. we promised, you heard it here first, we will never complain about winter again. "way too ely